D2C Brands Lean on WhatsApp to Find New Customers

WhatsApp is increasingly being used as a customer acquisition channel by India's direct-to-consumer brands, moving beyond its traditional role in retention and post-purchase support. This is according to the WhatsApp Commerce Intelligence Report 2026 released by GoKwik, which analysed 26 billion messages sent by more than 1,800 D2C brands across four quarters.

The report found that 83% of all WhatsApp-driven orders placed during the October-December 2025 festive quarter came from first-time buyers. Brands using WhatsApp marketing tools on the GoKwik network recorded median gross merchandise value growth that was 2.25 times higher than those that did not.

Automation Outperforms Broadcast

The report documents a clear gap in performance between brands using AI-powered automation and those running mass broadcast campaigns. Automated customer journeys, including abandoned-cart reminders, order updates, loyalty prompts and login nudges, delivered average click-through rates of 11.1% over the year. Broadcast campaigns, by comparison, averaged a click-through rate of 2.6%, rising to 3.04% during the festive peak. Open rates for automated journeys reached as high as 73.9%.

In electronics, top-quartile brands achieved WhatsApp conversion rates of nearly 1.5% against a network average of 0.4%, a gap the report attributes to automation depth and audience segmentation rather than higher spending.

"The brands seeing outsized growth on WhatsApp aren't sending more messages. They are letting AI decide which message to send, to whom, and when," said Chirag Taneja, co-founder and chief executive of GoKwik. "That shift from broadcast to AI-driven contextual commerce is what's creating a structural performance gap."

Fashion Leads

Fashion brands, the largest contributors to WhatsApp-driven revenue on the GoKwik network, saw top performers convert at nearly 2.5 times the category average. Customer support showed a similar shift toward automation. Bot-led query resolution rates rose to 73.4% during the year from 67.1%, with automated systems handling routine requests such as order tracking, returns and frequently asked questions.

The report also noted that even as brands increased campaign frequency during the festive quarter, click-through and engagement rates continued to rise, which the report attributes to AI-determined message relevance reducing audience fatigue.